The Challenge
by CasTheGuardian
Summary: When the user's video card breaks, the Left 4 Dead and Call of Duty crew gets a chance to relax, and on top of that, they receive an invitation to stay the month at the Director's mansion. It's the ultimate dream vacation, but there's a catch.
1. Prologue

There he was, lying on the bed. At first she thought he was just sleeping, but then she noticed something...off. The blankets that covered him didn't make one smooth hill-shaped curve over his body. Instead, there were five separate curves, and the lowest point of each curve was where the blanket and the mattress met. Zoey called his name again, but there was no response.

She held her breath as she closed in and gripped the blanket tightly, staring straight at his sleeping face. She gathered all her courage and, with one swift motion, pulled back the blanket. What she saw made her body instantly freeze up and turned her blood cold.

It was a gruesome sight, no matter how many times she had seen it during the zombie apocalypse, but seeing the same thing done to someone she knew, talked to, and trusted made it an entirely new and horrifying experience. His arms, his legs, and his head had been torn off and laid neatly next to what remains of his torso! "Ah... Ah... AHHH!" Zoey didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to believe that this person was the exact same person as the one she talked to during dinner last night, the same person that had saved her life so many times during her fight for survival, but here he was. That same face was unmistakably his, now disconnected to the hands that brought her back to her feet.

"Noooo!" She shrieked. "Nooooo!" She tried to touch the body, tried to prove to herself that it wasn't real. Perhaps the moment she touched it, she would wake up and realize it was a dream, or maybe the limbs would come together again because it was just some kind of light trick, or maybe the corpse was really just a plastic prop, or a practical joke played on her by her friends. She searched for something, anything to prove to herself that it wasn't real. She didn't get the chance to.


	2. Arc 1 Chapter 1

I was sitting in the back of Captain MacTavish's car, reading through a small invitation letter. We had received it about half a week ago, almost immediately after receiving news that the current player and owner of the computer we reside in was going to send in his video card for repairs.

Of course, everyone exploded with joy hearing the news, since that meant we would have roughly a month-long break, and I'm pretty sure that after being shot, burned, and stabbed, the rest of the Task Force, including myself, could use a break.

My eyes scanned the letter for the fifth time. Receiving a letter like this seemed almost unreal, since it was coming from one of the highest ranked people. It was almost like receiving a letter from the President, or even God himself saying, "hey, let's party at my place."

"Greetings. I am the Director, you may know me as the one who sets up and runs the games that our beloved player uses daily. It has come to my attention that the player has taken a liking to several of you, therefore, I have decided to reward your hard work. You are hereby invited to stay at my mansion for the month that he is gone. Please, bring only your clothes. Everything else will be provided for. Once again, thank you for all your hard work, and please enjoy yourself."

Below the paragraph was a list of directions to get to the mansion and the signature of the Director.

"Roach, why you keep staring at that thing?" Meat's voice snapped me out of my trance.

"Oh, uh... I dunno, it's like... unbelievable, you know? I mean, it's THE Director, inviting us to his place." I said.

"Yeah! We sure did a good job catching the player's attention, eh Meat? Even though we show up for like, half a chapter." Royce said happily. "So is it just gonna be us five and the man himself?"

"I checked in with the other games," the Captain said. "Looks like the Left 4 Dead group's going to be joining us too, they're the only other people who got the invitation."

"I call dibs on Zoey." Ghost's voice came from the passenger seat.

"Hey! You can't call dibs!" Meat said angrily.

"Yeah! We all know she's got the hots for me!" Royce grinned.

"Quit dreaming, she's going for me!" Meat elbowed Royce in the ribs.

"Yeah, right!"

I sighed as the two of them started getting into a full blown argument. "How long 'till we're there, Captain?"

" 'Bout half an hour."

"Great."

Half an hour and a rather long walk uphill on a narrow road through a forest later, we were standing in front of a huge mansion. Meat took in a deep breath before letting out a long, "Duuuuuuuuuuude." I looked over at the Captain and Ghost, and both seem unfazed at the sheer size of the building. At least, the Captain was. It was hard to tell what expression Ghost had, since he still had his skull-print balaclava and sun glasses on.

"I feel so... underdressed. You sure we're not supposed to wear like, tuxedos or something?" Royce commented.

Without answering, MacTavish walked up to the huge front doors and pushed the doorbell before knocking several times. After a few seconds, one of the doors creaked open and a girl's face poked out.

"Hey guys!"

"Good to see you Zoey." The Captain nodded.

"Glad you made it over here." She exchanged a quick hug with the Captain before pushing open the door. "Come on in."

MacTavish went in first, followed by Ghost who gave a simple greeting. Meat was next, giving her a corny pickup line, to which she didn't take so well, while Royce complimented her appearance.

"Hey, I'm Gary Sanderson. You can call me Roach." I held out a hand towards her as I entered.

"Roach? Well, nice to meet you, uh, Roach. I'm Zoey." She took it and shook hands with me. She's kinda cute, no wonder Royce and Meat were arguing over her.

The inside of the mansion was as breathtaking as the outside. A lot of expensive decoration were hung on display, and the whole entrance was lit up by a chandelier that was almost the size of the room.

"This way. I'll take you to the parlor. That's where the room arrangements are listed." Zoey led our group of five deeper into the mansion.

"Wow."

"I know, right?" Zoey chuckled. "Everything's so fancy, I feel like the invitation was meant for someone else and I got it by accident, but my name's on the room arrangements, so..."

"So you got to meet with the Director?" I asked.

"No, in fact we haven't seen him at all since we got here. Makarov's been, like, the one in charge."

"Makarov? Makarov's here?" Ghost asked, surprised.

"Yeah. I think his group was the first one here."

"Oh boy." Ghost sighed. Makarov was an asshole and everyone knew it, except maybe Zoey and her gang. Him being here would probably drain all the fun out of the vacation.

It seemed like most of the guests were gathered at the parlor. As soon as we entered, a chorus of "ooooh" sounded. A large, African American man rose from his seat on the couch and greeted us first.

"Hey Soap. How're you doing?" He shook hands with the Captain, then with Ghost, Meat, and Royce. When he came to me, he extended out his hand. "Everyone calls me Coach. What's yer name, young'n?"

"Roach, just call me Roach." I shook his hand firmly.

"Nice to meet you, Roach. Let me introduce you to our group. That young lady over there is Rochelle." He pointed at a black woman wearing a pink shirt sitting over at the couch next to the TV.

"Hello."

"The one next to her is Francis."

"I hate introductions." The man scowled, crossing his tattoo covered arms.

"And the kid wearing the hat is Ellis."

"Nice ta meet ya. Y'know, you remind me of one my friends, Dave, looks kinda like you and one time he-" Before the guy could even start his story, Coach moved onto the two men playing chess together.

"This one here, with the white suit is Nick, and this guy's Louis."

"Hi, nice to meet you." Louis smiled and shook my hand.

"Yeah, yeah, nice to meet you." Nick didn't even look up from the game.

"Where's Bill?" MacTavish asked.

"Oh, he's takin' a smoke break." Ellis motioned towards the back of the parlor, where a glass door led to the backyard.

"And Makarov...?"

"In his room."

"Alright, guys. I got your room keys and everything here." Zoey beckoned us over to a table.

"Hey Ghost... Why do you think Makarov's here?" Soap had pulled Ghost over to a corner and was speaking in a low voice so no one else could hear.

"Beats me. Didn't the invitation only get sent out to the people the Player likes?"

"Yeah, but Zoey said he's been the one in charge, and the Director hasn't even showed up yet... You think something happened?"

"Yeah..."

"I have a bad feeling about this... Good thing I brought this," Soap showed a pistol he kept hidden in his pocket. "Just in case."


End file.
